Linda Tavares Women who changed history: The flight of amelia earhart. (2009).

Retrieved July 20, 2009, from http://teacher.scholastic.com/earhart/tguide.htm Description of the lesson plan Women Who Changed History: The Flight of Amelia Earhart, is a unit with lessons appropriate for womens history month and which meet the requirements of the social studies curriculum, during womens history month and also meets the requirements of teaching nonfiction/biographies outlined in the language arts curriculum. The grade level of this unit is grades 4 through 8. Since my third grade class is the enrichment group, I feel this lesson can be used with my students since they will be reading on levels above third grade. The goals of this lesson are to read and discuss biographies of historical figures, to interact with technology to research historical documents, and construct meaning, and to emphasize real world events and respond to how these events worked to shape society. In this lesson, students will use technology to research the accomplishments of an important American figure. They will discuss the biography genre of literature, relate Amelia Earharts personal challenges to their own in a writing journal, and investigate an interactive timeline of events. They will learn about how Amelia Earharts character traits influenced the events in her life. Finally, create a cause and effect chart and compare Earharts life challenges with that of another famous aviator, Sylvia Barter. The students will write a news story which explains the events in Earharts life using on-line instructions for how to write a news story. They will post their finished stories online in The Earhart Gazette and read the work posted by other students across the country. THE GATEWAY TO EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS (GEM) Educational Resource Evaluation Form Accuracy The information found in this lesson is up to date, accurate and reliable. The lesson was last updated in 2009, and is accurate because it uses primary resources through an interactive World of Amelia Earhart timeline. The timeline uses web links to reliable resources such as PBS American Experience where students can gain an insight into what life was like during the early part of the twentieth century and learn about significant world events. They will read a transcript of an interview with another important historical figure, Sylvia Barton, who was also a world renowned female aviator during the early twentieth-century. Points awarded: 5.
2 Generally inaccurate or out-of-date Inaccurate or outof-date more often than not 3 Occasionally inaccurate and out-of-date 4 Accurate, current with a few exceptions 5 Accurate and current

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Appropriateness Since the lesson dynamics are written toward teacher use, and not the students, this lesson is easy to modify in order to accommodate a slightly younger age. The actual lesson is written for teacher use but the resource materials are geared toward students use. They will primarily use the interactive timeline which is easy for students to navigate. The language is student friendly and quite interesting and informative. The activities are relevant to the objectives and the procedures are easy to understand. The instructions can be altered to suit the needs of the teacher and student prior to presenting the lesson. Points awarded: 5.
1 Not appropriate 2 Limited on most aspects of appropriateness 3 Mixed levels of appropriateness 4 Mostly "on target" with few exceptions 5 Completely appropriate

Clarity The learning objectives are bulleted and clearly stated. The objectives, methods and procedures are very well integrated. For instance, the lesson objective, Use technology to tour Web sites about significant global events from early 20th-century history (http://teacher.scholastic.com) is directly related to the method of utilizing an interactive timeline to investigate these important events and having access to additional materials to support the objective is an important component. The assessments include a writing assessment checklist and an activity assessment rubric as well and an end of project assessment checklist. The writing checklist is comprised of four questions which focus on idea organization and copy editing and these questions can be altered by individual teachers to fit their grade level requirement. The Rubric assigns points from 1 to 5 and range from beginning, emerging, satisfactory, capable, and proficient as a measure of competence. This rubric does identify the strengths and weaknesses of the students abilities with regard to this lesson. The end of project assessment asks five goals the students are expected to have reached by the end of the lesson and include questions such as: Did the student mention some of Earharts challenges? (http://teacher.scholastic.com) Points awarded: 5.

1 Little or no relation between resource and objectives

2 Weak correlation between resource and objective

3 Some of the learning objectives represented

4 Most objectives present

5 All learning objectives clearly stated & tied to resources, content, procedures, & assessments

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Completeness This lesson includes full coverage of the materials necessary to complete the assignments. The lesson criteria is outlined, the information is current, and links to related material are in good working order and are relevant to this lesson. The National Standards are listed and grouped by the Social Studies Standards (NCSS), the Reading Language Arts Standards (IRA) and (NCTE), and the Technology Standards are listed. The lesson concepts are well developed and organized. I would like to see the all of the lesson assessments criteria printable and written in student language so the students can have a hard copy at the beginning of the lesson. The way this lesson was written, with a focus on teacher interpretation, the assessment questions would need to be reworked and placed in a convenient location for students to have access. Points awarded: 4.
1 Many gaps in coverage; incomplete 2 Some gaps; parts could be expanded 3 Better concept development needed 4 Satisfactory concept development 5 Full coverage; superior concept development

Motivation The learner activities in this lesson are engaging and provide an excellent opportunity for students to be challenged but also be successful. Using the interactive timeline may seem sophisticated to learner. This activity generates engagement through the use of primary sources such as videos, photographs, commentaries and web links to sites that are purposefully chosen and contain powerful educational information. Having easy access to these kinds of materials may promote a sense of confidence in the students and encourage them to continue their research within and beyond the classroom setting. Points awarded: 5.
1 Contrived; almost no learner engagement 2 Mostly passive; little engagement challenge or relevance 3 Some active tasks; moderate appeal and some challenge 4 Applications for the most part are engaging and challenging 5 Wide range of approaches and activities that lead to learner satisfaction

Organization The lessons in the Flight of Amelia Earhart are organized and follow a logical sequence. The explanations for the lessons are clearly written. The students are first asked to brainstorm and record their ideas about character traits and setting personal goals in a journal, perform investigations and make text to self connections. Then they are asked to make text to text connections while comparing Lesson Plan Evaluation Page 3

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two important historical figures they have read and learned about, and they are asked to organize all of their information sequentially and share what they have learned by writing a news account of Amelia Earhart to share with other students in an online database. Points awarded: 5.
1 Confusing; unclear; disjointed 2 Repetitive; redundant 3 Some logical development 4 Sequence is fairly clear and smoothflowing

5
Flows smoothly; all is clear; wellorganized

Evaluation of the information literacy components of the lesson plan Standard 1: Accesses information efficiently and effectively The lesson provides resources and invites teachers to encourage students to search for information but does not lay the groundwork or specify search strategies. Rather this component is left to teacher interpretation and explanation of where and how to search the various resources for information. Students are asked to engage in informational seeking without provide a structure for the search as outlined in the description of the Standard 1 that states: The student knows how to structure a search across a
variety of sources and formats to locate the best information to meet a particular need (http://www.ala.org). This lesson does not contain a strong example of this standard. The resources the students use are instructionally sound and appropriate for student research.

Standard 2: Evaluates information critically and competently The students perform research and must discriminate between information they will want to use to explain the challenges faced by Amelia Earhart and the character traits that allowed her to become a successful female pilot during a time in history when little opportunities were offered to women. They need to use their own judgment when choosing the most relevant information and applying it to key concepts: the unique challenges women faced, the bravery it took to overcome these challenges, placing the important events in sequential order and culminating in a shared expository writing assignment. They use revising and editing techniques to help them form a coherent final project. In this way, the lesson meets the standard two description which states: The student applies these principles insightfully across information sources and formats and uses logic and informed judgment to accept, reject, or replace information to meet a particular need (http://www.ala.org). Lesson Plan Evaluation Page 4

Linda Tavares Standard 3: Uses information effectively and creatively The final, culminating activity that requires students to sort through the information they have gathered, form this information into an organized news article, and post it online in a shared document is an example of how this project based lesson strongly enforces standard 3. Other students may read the posted articles which promotes further learning.

Standard 8: Practices ethical behavior in regard to information and information technology There is no requirement for or instructions to the student how to provide citations for their sources. It is up to teacher interpretation when and how this component is to be added during teaching of the lesson. The students are encouraged to contribute positively to a community of learners with this project. Evaluation Summary and Suggestions for Improvements In summary, I believe this lesson to be worthwhile and educational for students in grades three to eight. Resources shared are thoughtful and accurate, the rubrics are strong and effectively assess student learning, and the activities are engaging and motivational. Improvements could be made to the lesson by incorporating printable rubrics for the writing assessment and with the addition of printable questions which could guide the students learning throughout their investigations. With the addition of properly citing their resources in the final product, this lesson could be significantly enhanced.

References: Information literacy standards for student learning. (1998). Retrieved July 29, 2009, from http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/aaslproftools/informationpower/ InformationLiteracyStandards_final.pdf

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